Umno must charm fence-sitters in ‘unusual’ GE13

Zahid said BN will be focused more on nabbing support from fence-sitting voters. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 — Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi sees the 13th general elections (GE13) as an “extraordinary” election that will require the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) and its mainstay Umno to employ unusual methods to capture the vote of fence-sitters in order to reverse their record losses at the last national polls in 2008.

The Umno vice-president told reporters today the Malay party will be focused more on nabbing support from fence-sitting voters in its battle to reclaim the seats lost to the three main opposition parties that have joined up and formed a political alliance known as Pakatan Rakyat (PR) since Election 2008.

“The motions, whether on the policy speech, education and economy, are fixed... but lean more towards GE13 because it questions how fence-sitting voters [who make up] 40 per cent of the vote that will determine victory or defeat to seize the seats we lost.

“This GE is extraordinary, approaches should not be assumed because it must be done through earnest efforts to get closer to the people,” Ahmad Zahid told a news conference in Parliament today.

The Defence minister urged Umno members not to raise non-election related issues or “sensitive matters” at the party’s annual general meeting (AGM) next week.

“Umno must act as the backbone of the BN’s machinery.

“This is not a suitable time to shoot diverging views,” he said.

The five-day Umno AGM will kick off next Tuesday and will last until December 1.

Opposition parties made significant gains at the 12th general elections, and now control 82 out of 222 seats in Parliament, besides taking hold of three key states along the west coast of the peninsula — Selangor, Penang and Kedah — while maintaining Kelantan for the past 22 years.

The Malaysian Insider understands that the BN could lose some more states, notably Negri Sembilan and Perak — which it won back in 2009 after several state PR lawmakers quit the opposition pact and swore loyalty to the ruling federal coalition — at the next polls.

The PR pact has also made inroads into the BN’s rural fortresses in Borneo, especially in Sabah where four lawmakers defected just a few months ago; and in Sarawak, where the urban Chinese support has jumped based on the hornbill state election last year.